The present invention relates to a funnel for yard waste and in particular to a funnel for yard waste that is easily expanded to funnel yard waste into a bag and collapsed for storage.
In much of the United States, each year in the autumn season, leaves from deciduous trees fall on the ground in the yard of millions of homeowners. In rural areas, these leaves can be raked or blown into a pile in the surrounding woods, or burned. However, in many urban areas, there are no surrounding woods and local ordinances forbid the use of fires to remove the leaves and other yard waste from the premises. Local governments often require that leaves and other yard waste be bagged for pickup by a waste collection vehicle or garbage truck. Most often, the bags are paper in construction which helps facilitate the quick and environmentally safe degradation of the bag and its contents. These bags are difficult to use as they do not have a rigid structure, and therefore do not stay open when a user attempts to place yard waste inside the bag. In addition, the mouth of the bag is small relative to its volumetric capacity, making it difficult to place a high volume of leaves, sticks, and branches in the bag in a time efficient manner. Systems for improving the collection of waste in these bags have been developed but are frequently large and bulky and are difficult to store because they do not collapse into a flat storage position.
Accordingly, a yard waste funnel that supports the refuse bag in an open position and facilitates the funneling of yard waste from a user's rake or hands into the bag and is easily collapsed to a flat storage position would be useful and an improvement in the art.